http://www.radioink.com/article.asp?id=2286169&spid=24698
Wow – National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) head and former US Senator Gordon Smith told the NAB members at the NAB/RAB adio show in Chicago last week that they should slow down on that streaming thing. I guess he thinks radio managers can’t run a radio station and streaming at the same time. Back around 1960, the same type of advice was given to AM radio station owners not to get distracted by that “FM Thing”.
“Real” Radio boycotting streaming is not going to slow down Pandora and Sirius/XM, Stitcher, and the other things that don’t even exist yet – it just creates a vacuum. Consumers are “finished” with mindless programming squeezed in around the 15-25 minutes per hour of commercials. Radio should understand how TV no longer exists in its traditional business model – radio is next.
iHeartRadio’s big concert to really launch the iHeartRadio streaming app is this weekend. I’m betting that Clear Channel is going to hit this one out of the park, and leave the rest of radio in the dust. Chairman Smith was sending the wrong message at exactly the wrong time.
This is not too surprising, considering the ‘mindless programming’ of FM radio here in Michigan (the AM ‘talk’ scene here is not worth addressing).
What I hear, up and down the dial, are the same songs and artists they were playing 30 years ago! I’ve been back here for two summers, and it’s like entering the twilight zone… thank the eGods for streaming from stations in other states (e.g. out West).
Walked into Ace hardware in northern MI and their radio was tuned to some FM ‘rock’ station downstate; the playlist featured: Foreigner, BTO, Mountain, Bob Seger (of course), Foghat, etc… the only times I hear a hint of music from the 90’s (or later) is during the lead-in for a Tigers game or other sports program.
Can you imagine, back in 1980, all the FM stations playing music from 1945?
It appears the business of FM radio is going to get ugly in the near future.
It should be apparent that my knowledge of music is limited….
How much of this “frozen in time” is radio and how much is it that the music business has changed? With people under 30 listening to their own music collections on MP3 players, is it possible the FM music demographic is also skewing toward older people?
The “nostalgia” radio stations are fading away. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, the Big Bands are only memories to people beyond the age where people are raising families and making major purchases. People tend to listen to the music from when they were dating and falling in love. If you’re in your 60s and think Coldplay and Lady Gaga are great music, you’re unusual. It’s a rite of passage to label the music of your children as “junk”, just as our parents did.